Puppies dont get fat they just grow too quickly if they are fed more than their daily dietary allowance. This can have dire consequences as it increases their risk of hip dysplasia and other skeletal abnormalities. When puppies are overfed their muscles and soft tissues grow quicker than their skeleton and joints. This puts a lot of strain on their joints at an early age.

This puppy will still reach its expected adult weight, if it hasnt already; we just need to pace this a bit through proper feeding. Over a period of a week the puppy should be transitioned from its old food to a good quality large breed puppy food. During this week the food should also be reduced to the amount recommended for a 6 month old puppy with expected adult weight 24-32kg. After this transition period the puppy should continue to be fed according to its age like any other puppy on the diet. This will hopefully restore the puppys metabolism and growth rate to normal and hopefully save it from bad joints as an adult.

Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) is a common condition in cats that presents as a restless cat urinating small amounts frequently, urinating in abnormal places, vocalising while urinating and urinating blood, to mention a few clinical signs.

Included in this disease complex is Interstitial Cystitis (bladder inflammation). Similar to Interstitial Cystitis in humans it can be triggered by stress or an infection. My recommendation is to take your cat to the vet for a urine analysis to exclude urinary tract disease. Once this has been excluded the next step is a behaviour consult with the vet or behaviour consultant for advice on behaviour modification.

Some young dogs and puppies will eat poo as a novelty. That is, they'll eat poop as an experiment. They don't know better. Some dogs also like to roll around in smelly things like horse or cow manure. Obviously our taste in perfume is not the same as a dogs J on a positive note, most dogs outgrow this unpleasant habit over time. Dog Coprophagia (the term for poo-eating) is most common in puppies up to a year old, but can occur at any stage in a dogs life.

Options for stopping behaviour

• Try feeding twice a day instead of once.
• Exercise and stimulate your dog
• Teach your dog the "off" training command. This is a basic obedience command, which your dog should respect if you have established yourself as the alpha dog.
• If your cat uses a litter box, put it out of reach of puppy
• Clean litter box daily (this is also important for general hygiene)
• Discipline the dog when it is caught eating out of or sniffing the litter box (e.g. you can use a water pistol to spray water at him)

Whichever method you decide to try with your dog be sure to be consistent. You must enforce it every time to stop dogs eating dog poo. The longer you let this habit establish itself, the harder it will be to break.